t
off by a great pile of logs, timbers, and uprooted trees which reached
above the second story of the houses. Here and there, caught between the
branches of the trees or the conjunction of timbers, were bits of
household articles, parts of chairs, window frames or broken beds and
soggy mattresses.

"We can climb over," suggested Hester. "That will not be much of a
climb."

Miss Burkham had been hesitating. She feared to go on and yet to go back
meant dissatisfied, hungry girls shut up in a wet, foul-smelling
building.

"We'll climb," she said. "But be careful to move slowly, and not bring
this down upon you."

The feat was not a difficult one. They succeeded in crossing and entered
the business street. There was not a whole plate-glass window in this
section. They had been shattered into bits so small that no trace of
them could be found.

The girls entered what had been the largest and finest grocery store of
the city. The mud was several feet deep; the show-cases had been
battered to pieces; canned goods were piled in heaps in the corners and
covered with refuse. But the combination most surprising, was where a
large cheese had tumbled down upon a dead cow which had been washed in
from some dairy farm far up the river.

Men were already clearing the streets, and shoveling the refuse from the
stores.

From the business thoroughfare, Miss Burkham led her charges to the
residence street. Here conditions were the same. The elegant houses bore
the marks of the flood. Trees were uprooted. Lawns which but a few days
before were things of beauty, were now but heaps of refuse, or hollows
filled with water.

Doors and windows stood open wide. Delicate, cultivated women had
arrayed themselves in overalls and were scraping the mud from their
homes.

As they made their way eastward, Robert Vail hurried down a side-street
to meet them.

"I started for school the instant I could," he explained to Miss
Burkham. "I did not know how bad conditions were, but I expected they
could not be good.

"I have a tally-ho and horses, but we could not get beyond Fairview
Street. South Street is a mere chasm. The horses could not have crossed
there. I did reach Miss Alden and Miss Richards. My man took them back
home while I came in."

Hester grasped his arm. "Auntie--is Auntie all right?"

"Fine as silk. She was concerned about you until we satisfied her that
seminary girls could not be gotten rid of so easily. It takes more t